Device for removing plants or the like from ground

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a device for removing plants or the like from the ground. The device comprises an elongated shaft, a ground support pivoted to a first end of the shaft transversely in relation to the longitudinal axis thereof and at least two blades including grip ends forming an extension of the shaft. The device is characterized in that the blades are pivoted in respect of the ground support transversely in relation to the longitudinal axis of the shaft and functionally connected together such that turning the shaft and the ground support in respect of each other causes the grip ends of the blades to move towards one another, thus enabling to grip the plant.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a device according to the preamble of claim 1comprising an elongated shaft, a ground support pivoted to a first endof the shaft transversely in relation to the longitudinal axis thereofand at least two blades including grip ends forming an extension of theshaft.

Various kinds of devices are previously known in the art for removingplants, weeds or the like from the ground, in other words for weedingfor instance dandelions from the lawn. An example of such a prior artdevice for pulling weeds is presented in U.S. Pat. No. 1,065,606.

The prior art solutions according to the device disclosed in thepublication mentioned above typically comprise an elongated shaft with afirst blade fixedly mounted to the second end as an extension thereof.The fixed blade is in relation to the shaft transversely provided with aground support, and the end closest to the shaft forms a second blade asan extension of the shaft and can be moved in respect of the shaft. Whenweeding for instance a dandelion from the lawn, the above-mentionedblades provided as the extension of the shaft are pressed into theground around the dandelion so that the blades are placed on oppositesides of the dandelion. The blades are pressed so deep into the groundthat the ground support can be supported on the ground. Thereafter, theshaft starts to be turned in the direction of the ground support towardsthe ground and at the same time ground support is pressed down to theground assisted by the foot of the operator. Then the ground support andthe blade forming the second end thereof remain in position in relationto the ground and the shaft connected to the ground support with a jointand the first blade fixedly mounted thereto move in relation to theground and the ground support, whereby the ends of the first and thesecond blade move towards each other, thus enabling to grip thedandelion beneath the ground. When continuing to turn the shaft asdescribed above the device pulls out a dandelion gripped by the bladesfrom the ground.

A problem with the above arrangement is that the moving blade has toperform a movement of significant size in comparison with the fixedblade and the gripping is not carried out smoothly in such a case. Also,the blades in the device are arranged such that gripping the roots orother parts of the plant is made difficult in practice and the plant istherefore only partly removed from the ground.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the invention to provide a device according to thecharacterizing part of claim 1 that allows solving the above problems.The object of the invention is achieved with a device, which ischaracterized in that the blades are pivoted in respect of the groundsupport transversely in relation to the longitudinal axis of the shaftand functionally connected together such that turning the shaft and theground support in respect of each other causes the grip ends of theblades to move towards one another, thus enabling to grip the plant.Consequently the movement is in a controlled manner aimed at the root,which is known to be located fairly exactly in the middle of the blades.

The preferred embodiments of the invention are disclosed in thedependent claims.

The idea of the invention is that the blades of the device are pivotedto the ground support, which in turn is pivoted to an elongated shafttransversely in relation to the longitudinal axis thereof, wherebyturning the shaft towards the ground in the direction of the groundsupport causes the ends of all the sharp blades to move simultaneouslytowards one another, thus enabling to grip the plant or the like. Insuch a case, when using the mechanism according to the presentinvention, gripping a plant is accurate and efficient and the plant caneasily be removed from the ground. The solution of the type presented inthe present invention also allows employing more than two blades as aresult of the arrangement of the above-described blades.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, one of the blades isfixedly mounted as an extension of the shaft such that a ground supportis pivoted to the fixed blade and that the fixed blade is functionallyconnected to the other blades pivoted to the ground support such thatwhen the shaft is turned in relation to the ground support the fixedblade causes the grip ends of the other blades to move towards oneanother and towards the grip end of the fixed blade. The blades are thuspreferably functionally connected to each other by means of a toothing.

In an application of a preferred embodiment of the invention, the fixedshaft is provided with a tooth gap and the other blades pivoted to theground support are provided with teeth, which are placed in the toothgap such that when the shaft is turned in relation to the groundsupport, the fixed blade causes the grip ends of the other teeth to movetowards one another and towards the grip end of the blade.

The device according to the invention comprises in an embodiment onefixed blade and another opposing blade. In another embodiment the deviceaccording to the present invention comprises one fixed blade and atleast two blades moving in relation thereto placed in a circular arrayat regular intervals.

Furthermore, in an embodiment according to the present invention thedevice comprises one fixed blade and three blades moving in relationthereto, which are placed in a circular array at regular intervals sothat a tooth of the blade opposite to the fixed blade is placed in thetooth gap of the fixed blade at different height levels as well as theteeth of two other mutually opposed blades, which are placed in parallelat the same height level.

An embodiment of the present invention preferably further comprises alifting part, which is pivoted from the first end thereof to the shaftand functionally connected from the second end thereof to the bladessuch that turning the shaft and the ground support in relation to oneanother causes the lifting part to rise upwards, thus allowing the gripends of the blades functionally connected thereto to move towards oneanother.

In an embodiment, the blades are functionally connected together bymeans of the lifting part and further in another embodiment the bladesare functionally connected to the lifting part and to each other bymeans of a toothing.

In an embodiment of the invention the device comprises two opposingblades functionally connected to the lifting part or at least threeblades placed in a circular array at regular intervals.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the following, the invention will be explained in greater detail bymeans of the preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 are schematic views showing by way of example how touse the device according to the present invention for removing plants orthe like from the ground;

FIG. 4 is a three-dimensional view showing a solution according to anembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 5 shows a cross-sectional view of the device according to theembodiment shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 shows the array of the blades according to the embodiment of theinvention shown in FIG. 3; and

FIG. 7 shows another embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With reference to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, the use of the device according tothe present invention is shown in principle for removing plants 5 or thelike from the ground 30. In accordance with the Figures, the devicecomprises an elongated shaft 2 with an elongated ground support 4pivoted to a first end thereof transversely in relation to thelongitudinal axis of the shaft. At least two blades 6, 7 forming anextension of the shaft are in turn pivoted to a first end 11 of theground support, i.e. the end of the side of the shaft 2. In thisembodiment the number of blades is four, and the blades form a grip-likearrangement.

When using the present invention, the user of the device grasps a secondend (not shown) of the shaft 2 or close thereto and presses the blades6, 7 that form the extension of the first end 1 of the shaft 2 into theground 30 around the plant 5 to be removed in accordance with FIG. 1.During this initial state when pressed into the ground 30, the grip ends8, 9 of the blades 6, 7 of the device are placed apart so that the plantto be removed from the ground 30 remains in the middle of the bladesthat are placed apart from one another. The blades 6, 7 are preferablypressed into the ground 30 almost all the way to the ground support 4.

After the blades 6, 7 of the device are pressed into the ground 30around the plant 5 or the like, the shaft 2 starts to be turned inrelation to the ground support 4 towards the ground 30 substantiallytowards the ground support 4 in accordance with FIG. 2. The groundsupport 4 is pivoted in relation to the shaft 2 and the blades 6, 7 arein turn pivoted in relation to the longitudinal axis of the shaft 2transversely to the ground support 4. Then, turning the shaft 2 inrespect of the ground support 4 supported on the ground 30 causes thegrip ends 8, 9 of the blades 6, 7 functionally connected to the shaft 2to move towards each other. While the grip ends 8, 9 move towards eachother, the grip formed thereby is closed as a result of the turning ofthe shaft 2 and the plant 5 in the middle of the blades 6, 7 is tightlysqueezed between the grip ends 8, 9. The grip ends 8, 9 of the blades 6,7 preferably move towards each other until they are completely squeezedagainst each other, leaving the plant to be pulled from the ground 30between them as shown in FIG. 2. The turning of the shaft can beassisted by the foot of the operator to press the ground support 4against the ground, in which case the device remains firmly in positionwhen the shaft 2 is turned.

When continuing to turn the shaft 2 further towards the ground 30 whilethe blades 6, 7 are tightly squeezed around the roots of the plant 5,the end point of the turning distance of the shaft 2 is achieved, andthe shaft cannot be moved further from this point in relation to theground support 4. Thus, the device starts to pry the blades 6, 7 pushedinto the ground 30 and the plant 5 squeezed between them from the ground30. Turning the shaft 2 is continued as long as the blades 6, 7 arecompletely lifted from the ground 30 and at the same time pulling theplant 5 squeezed between the blades 6, 7 from the ground 30 as shown inFIG. 3. Then the plant 5, the weed, the dandelion or equivalent targetfound in the ground 30 and desired to be removed can easily be pulledand removed from the ground 30. A small hole is left in the ground 30after the removal, which can easily be filled if desired.

FIG. 4 shows a more detailed three-dimensional view of a solutionaccording to an embodiment of the present invention, in which the firstend 1 of the shaft 2 is provided with a mechanism comprising the groundsupport 4 and the four blades 6, 7 mounted to the first end 11 thereof.This embodiment comprises one blade 7 that is fixedly mounted to theshaft 2, to which the ground support is pivoted. The ground support ispivoted substantially transversely in relation to the longitudinal axisof the shaft 2 using a joint pin 13. The other three blades 6 are inturn pivoted only to the ground support 4 using joint pins 17. In thisembodiment the ground support 4 is substantially perpendicularlypositioned in respect of the shaft 2, when the shaft is placed in avertical position as regards the ground 30, and ready to press theblades 6, 7 into the ground. Then the grip ends 8, 9 of the blades 6, 7are placed apart from one another in accordance with FIG. 4, thusallowing the blades to be pressed into the ground so that the plant 5 tobe pulled remains in the middle of the blades. Such a position of theblades 6, 7 is achieved since the force of gravity pulls the groundsupport 4 pivoted to the blade 7 downwards, in which case the groundsupport 4 is shaped such that it prevents the angle between the groundsupport 4 and the shaft 2 to increase above approximately 90 degrees.

In this position the blades 6, 7 are pressed into the ground 30 placedaround the plant 5 or a similar target to be removed so that the groundsupport 4 is substantially pressed in the same direction as the ground30 on the surface of the ground 30 while the shaft 2 still remains inthe vertical position thereof. After this, when the shaft 2 starts to beturned towards the ground 30 in the direction of the ground support 4,the grip end 9 of the blade 7 fixedly mounted as the extension on theshaft 2 also starts to turn towards the middle of the area determined byall the four blades 6, 7. The moving blades 6 pivoted to the groundsupport 4 are functionally connected to the fixed blade 7 and thereforethe grip ends 8 thereof also starts to move towards the middle. Thus,the blades 6, 7 squeeze the plant 5 in a grip-like fashion between them.

FIG. 5 shows how the blades 6, 7 are pivoted and functionally connectedto one another, as FIG. 5 shows a cross sectional view of the mechanismillustrated in FIG. 4. In accordance with FIG. 5, the fixed blade 7comprises a tooth gap 18 and the other moving blades 6 comprise at leastone tooth 20, 22. The teeth of the moving blades 6 are placed in thetooth gap 18 of the fixed blade 7 such that when the shaft 2 is turnedthe turning fixed blade 7 also turns the moving blades 6 by means of thetoothing, whereby all the four blades move simultaneously towards oneanother squeezing the plant 5 between them. When the shaft 2 is turned,the fixed blade 7 turns around a joint 13 in relation to the groundsupport 4 simultaneously turning the other moving blades 6 pivoted tothe ground support 4 by means of joints 17.

In accordance with FIG. 5, the toothing is implemented in thisembodiment such that the tooth 20 of the blade opposite to the fixedblade 7 is placed lowest in relation to the drive position of the devicein the tooth gap 18 of the fixed blade 7. Then, the two blades areaccurately placed to face one another and the grip ends 8, 9 thereof aresqueezed against each other when turning the shaft 2. In addition, theblades facing one another are dimensioned such that the grip endsthereof are at the same level and are squeezed against each other whenused.

According to FIG. 5, the teeth 22 of the two other moving blades areplaced in parallel above the tooth 20 of the blade that is opposite tothe fixed blade 7 in this embodiment. Then the two blades placed inparallel against each other may be identical in respect of one anotherand therefore also the grip ends thereof are placed at the same height.In this embodiment, the grip ends of the two opposed moving blades arenot placed at the same height with the grip ends of the two otherblades, but this would also be possible.

FIG. 6 illustrates the position of the blades 6, 7 in this embodiment inrespect of each other. FIG. 6 shows that the fixed blade 7 and the bladeopposite thereto are placed in a completely opposite position inrelation to one another such that the grip ends thereof are squeezedagainst each other when the device is being used. Then again, the twoother moving blades placed in parallel opposite to each other, whoseteeth 22 are placed in parallel with the tooth gap 18 of the fixed blade7, are not squeezed against each other. When using the device, the gripends of these opposed parallel blades are squeezed against the sidesurfaces of the two other blades, as illustrated in FIG. 6.

Such an embodiment according to the present invention described abovecan be implemented also in several other ways by changing for instancethe number of blades from two upwards. In addition, the toothing can bealtered for instance so that all blades are provided with an archedtoothing surface with several teeth connected circularly to one another.Corresponding toothing solutions are used for instance in the foldablepropellers of sailing boats.

Another embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 7. In thisembodiment the shaft 2 is pivoted using a joint pin 24 from the firstend 1 thereof straight to the ground support 4. The shaft 2 is alsoprovided with a lifting part 14 pivoted by means of a joint pin 26 asshown in FIG. 7. The lifting part 14 is mounted at the side of the shaft2 in order to provide a torque shaft and directed straight downwardsfrom the joint 26. The lifting part 14 comprises a tooth gap 28, intowhich the teeth 27 of the blades 6 pivoted by joint pins 17 to theground support 4 can be arranged as shown in FIG. 7.

When the device according to the embodiment shown in FIG. 7 is used, theblades 6 provided as the extension of the shaft 2 are pressed into theground 30 around a plant to be pulled, preferably all the way to theground support 4. After this, the shaft 2 starts to be turned towardsthe ground 30 in the direction of the ground support 4, in the same wayas above in the first embodiment. Thus, turning the shaft 2 around thejoint 24 in respect of the ground support 4 causes the shaft 2 to turnalso in respect of the blades 6 and the lifting part so that the liftingpart 14 is lifted upwards. Lifting the lifting part 14 upwards causesthe blades 6 functionally connected thereto by means of the teeth 27 toturn so that the grip ends 8 thereof move towards each other squeezingthe plant 5 between them. Continuing to turn the shaft 2 results in theplant 5 being pulled up from the ground 30 in the same way as in theprevious embodiment.

This embodiment can also be modified within the scope of the invention.For instance, the lifting mechanism can be implemented in variousalternative ways.

It is apparent for those skilled in the art that as technology advancesthe basic idea of the invention can be implemented in various ways. Theinvention and the embodiments thereof are therefore not restricted tothe above examples but may vary within the scope of the claims.

1. A device for removing plants from the ground, the device comprising:an elongated shaft having a first end and a second end; the elongatedshaft including a fixed blade extending from the first end, the fixedblade having a gap formed therein; a ground support pivotally connectedto the elongated shaft; at least two pivot blades pivotally connected tothe ground support; the pivot blades each having a tooth cooperatingwith the gap in the fixed blade to form a gear connection operable tomove a grip end of the blades toward one another when the second end ofthe elongated shaft is moved relative to the ground support.
 2. A deviceas claimed in claim 1, wherein the around support is pivotally coupledto the fixed blade and the elongated shaft is pivotally movable relativeto the around support up to a predetermined point.
 3. A device asclaimed in claim 2, wherein movement of the elongated shaft toward thearound support up to the predetermined point causes the blades tosqueeze the plant between the blades.
 4. A device as claimed in claim 3,wherein movement of the elongated shaft toward the ground support andbeyond the predetermined point is operable to pry the blades and theplant from the ground.
 5. A device as claimed in claim 1, comprisingthree pivot blades pivotally connected to the ground support, the pivotblades functionally connected to the fixed blade through the gearconnection, the pivot blades moving in relation to the fixed blade andarranged in an array, and the tooth of the pivot blade opposite to thefixed blade aligned to fit into the gap of the fixed blade at a heightdifferent from the height of the teeth of the other two blades.
 6. Adevice as claimed in claim 1, wherein movement of the elongated shafttoward the ground support is operable to move the grip end of the fixedblade toward the pivot blades, and movement of the fixed blade isoperable to move the grip ends of the pivot blades toward the fixedblade by the interaction at the gear connection.